The third Harvest Moon release on Game Boy. A direct sequel to Harvest Moon 2, it is set on an island off the mainland, the player is tasked with reviving the farm and turning around it's fortunes using two unique playable characters, a first for the series.
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honestly? honestly? if this one was more well known it'd be a lot of peoples favorite harvest moon game. it's got so many events. you can play as a boy or girl. you can go watch a manzai comedy show. you can get a magic glove. don't sleep on this game!
Farming is tedious because there's no way to quickly cycle through tools like in Friends of Mineral Town. The music loop resets every time you enter another screen, which is incredibly annoying.
It's dissapointing that the world isn't interconnected like in FOMT. It feels less immersive to be selecting each location from a menu screen. Other Gameboy games like Link's Awakening didn't have this problem, so there's no excuse here.
The game ends after you get married, but only if you're a girl. Natsume has always been that kind of company.
It's easy to forget just how bad most Harvest Moon games are in comparison to Stardew Valley. This IP has rarely been given the level of care it deserves.
It's dissapointing that the world isn't interconnected like in FOMT. It feels less immersive to be selecting each location from a menu screen. Other Gameboy games like Link's Awakening didn't have this problem, so there's no excuse here.
The game ends after you get married, but only if you're a girl. Natsume has always been that kind of company.
It's easy to forget just how bad most Harvest Moon games are in comparison to Stardew Valley. This IP has rarely been given the level of care it deserves.
Pros: PIGS!!! The first Harvest Moon game to ever have pigs in it! Yeah, that's what I'll start this review off with, hah! Anywhooo, Harvest Moon 3 actually does quite a lot, and pushes the series outside of its comfort zone in numerous ways. Firstly, marriage is finally in the GB series! There is a caveat though, as you can only marry your work partner, which is the other gender option, but... well, it's better than nothing! You can still start a family and all that here. Secondly, there's a massive city you can visit on the mainland, complete with a shopping mall, movie theater, aquarium, farmer's market where you can set up tent, it's rather inventive and fun!
The basics are all here, but with new bells and whistles. Your new ranch is on an island, with a smaller town than usual, no shops even, but enough to get to know the locals. There's still a little mountainous forest you can forage in, and in the winter even snowboard on! (the snowboarding minigame is in quasi-3D, pretty impressive for GBC, I'd say, fun too!) The biggest change involves which gender you play as, as either boy or girl have their own specialties. The boy is skilled in field work, and the girl is skilled in animal rearing. By choosing one gender, the other gender will live on the ranch with you as a co-worker, and tend to their specialty, where they'll get better at the job over time. And you can even give them commands on how, with a minimap and directions and all that. Pretty neat. Some new mechanics that stood out to me were the irrigation systems you can create to plant rice and wheat. Also, if I remember correctly, this is the first Harvest Moon where you can set up a scarecrow on the field to keep pests away from the crops. Good farm stuff! Additionally, chickens, cows, and sheep all return, but a new livestock option is here too, horses! Yeah, horses are now livestock, where they need to be fed daily, and you can keep multiple of in the barn (they even come in a variety of different colors!). Their purpose is to be sold off to the racetrack, where you can then see how they've performed at the Farmer's Union... Interesting! You can still ride them around in your ranch too, of course. The city on the mainland is the star attraction though, where you can buy anything you need at the shopping mall (home goods to customize your living space, seeds, books even!), take in a movie at the theater (Entertaining little stories you can watch with new shows every season!), donate new fish caught to the Aquarium (a nice chill spot to visit and observe the aquatic life in closer detail), the Farmer's Union where you can order new livestock and tools, and the mainland port, the entrance and exit where you can set up your farmer's market tent to sell goods to city dwellers, as well as just take your boat out to sea, and explore with complete freedom, THE SEA! It's where you'll find the best fish to sell, and among other secrets, like the mermaid's cove! The game still has trading as well with other players, seeds, animals, pets, oh yeah... PETS! This game lets you choose three different dog breeds that protect your animals outside, three different colored cats that bring you different seasons seeds on occasion, a bird/falcon that brings in random seeds from any season, and my favorite, the long up and coming animal that I've wanted in the series since game one, the pig. The pig, who simply brings you money every now and then, haha! It's so cute having a pet little pig!
Cons: Well... this one is awkward. The game hasn't aged well in one particular instance. The gender stuff... You see, when you get married in this game, if you're playing as the boy, you can raise a family, have kids, and keep growing the farm. But.... if you're playing as the girl, when you get married the game simply... ends. That's it. Game over. And that's pretty lame. Every other girl version of Harvest Moon let you get married and have kids no problem, why not this one? Ehh... it's unfortunate.
What it means to me: This game released at the tail end of the GBC's life, the GBA was already out and was even featured as compatible with on the back of the box. But I didn't care, I needed to complete this trilogy! And I'm glad I did! When first checking the game's booklet I was introduced to official game art of the pig, and I just about lost my mind!! Haha! And the game ended up being the deepest HM experience on a handheld yet, absolutely loved delving into this one, and replaying it with the opposite gender for all of the different gameplay scenarios possible.
The basics are all here, but with new bells and whistles. Your new ranch is on an island, with a smaller town than usual, no shops even, but enough to get to know the locals. There's still a little mountainous forest you can forage in, and in the winter even snowboard on! (the snowboarding minigame is in quasi-3D, pretty impressive for GBC, I'd say, fun too!) The biggest change involves which gender you play as, as either boy or girl have their own specialties. The boy is skilled in field work, and the girl is skilled in animal rearing. By choosing one gender, the other gender will live on the ranch with you as a co-worker, and tend to their specialty, where they'll get better at the job over time. And you can even give them commands on how, with a minimap and directions and all that. Pretty neat. Some new mechanics that stood out to me were the irrigation systems you can create to plant rice and wheat. Also, if I remember correctly, this is the first Harvest Moon where you can set up a scarecrow on the field to keep pests away from the crops. Good farm stuff! Additionally, chickens, cows, and sheep all return, but a new livestock option is here too, horses! Yeah, horses are now livestock, where they need to be fed daily, and you can keep multiple of in the barn (they even come in a variety of different colors!). Their purpose is to be sold off to the racetrack, where you can then see how they've performed at the Farmer's Union... Interesting! You can still ride them around in your ranch too, of course. The city on the mainland is the star attraction though, where you can buy anything you need at the shopping mall (home goods to customize your living space, seeds, books even!), take in a movie at the theater (Entertaining little stories you can watch with new shows every season!), donate new fish caught to the Aquarium (a nice chill spot to visit and observe the aquatic life in closer detail), the Farmer's Union where you can order new livestock and tools, and the mainland port, the entrance and exit where you can set up your farmer's market tent to sell goods to city dwellers, as well as just take your boat out to sea, and explore with complete freedom, THE SEA! It's where you'll find the best fish to sell, and among other secrets, like the mermaid's cove! The game still has trading as well with other players, seeds, animals, pets, oh yeah... PETS! This game lets you choose three different dog breeds that protect your animals outside, three different colored cats that bring you different seasons seeds on occasion, a bird/falcon that brings in random seeds from any season, and my favorite, the long up and coming animal that I've wanted in the series since game one, the pig. The pig, who simply brings you money every now and then, haha! It's so cute having a pet little pig!
Cons: Well... this one is awkward. The game hasn't aged well in one particular instance. The gender stuff... You see, when you get married in this game, if you're playing as the boy, you can raise a family, have kids, and keep growing the farm. But.... if you're playing as the girl, when you get married the game simply... ends. That's it. Game over. And that's pretty lame. Every other girl version of Harvest Moon let you get married and have kids no problem, why not this one? Ehh... it's unfortunate.
What it means to me: This game released at the tail end of the GBC's life, the GBA was already out and was even featured as compatible with on the back of the box. But I didn't care, I needed to complete this trilogy! And I'm glad I did! When first checking the game's booklet I was introduced to official game art of the pig, and I just about lost my mind!! Haha! And the game ended up being the deepest HM experience on a handheld yet, absolutely loved delving into this one, and replaying it with the opposite gender for all of the different gameplay scenarios possible.
Direct continuation of Harvest Moon GBC 3 and last console story centered on helping Shara prosper her farm and you will help her in the process who knows you might even marry her a great game for those who want quick matches every day and get to know the franchise on gameboy Color.